It’s official and you’re hearing it here first. The legendary Robert August is joining the WRSC family in a very special way: by personally hand-shaping custom surfboards at Witch’s Rock Surf Camp in Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

I was sitting with Robert last Friday on the couch in the Skybox, drinking Imperials, watching the waves in the Tamarindo Rivermouth and talking a little story. He told me about having to sneak film canisters out of India during the shooting of the Endless Summer, and then again during in the Endless Summer II here in Costa Rica. I finally learned the facts about the seaplane that crashed while showing off above the Tamarindo Estuary, crashing literally a few hundred yards from where the surf camp now sits. I told Robert about driving a school bus from California to Costa Rica, and about how I didn’t know how to get to Witch’s Rock by boat the first time I drove a boat trip there 10 years ago, about how I was literally watching the Endless Summer II at 4am on the morning of the trip trying to look for landmarks in the background, hoping I would somehow find my way to Witch’s Rock and Ollie’s Point.

How classic and totally perfect to meet up with a guy like Robert August, a guy who has been surf exploring, making surfboards, and living the life of surf for so long. How great that he finally moved to Tamarindo full-time and is practically my next door neighbor. And how incredibly lucky I am to have someone like Robert to learn the craft of hand shaping surfboards from, a shaping legend who has built over 34,000 surfboards. Sometimes things like this just happen, and when they do it seems so natural and makes you wonder why it took so long, and all you can do is sit back and smile and take it all in. This probably couldn’t have happened any other way than the way it did.

So, now what? The answer: a shit ton. We are building a series of Robert August Witch’s Rock surfboards that will be available for rent as part of the Witch’s Rock Surf Camp surf tours and surf school programs. The Witch’s Rock Surf Shop will be stocked with a full range of new boards available for purchase. We are accepting custom surfboard orders, and these boards will be hand shaped by Robert August here in our shaping room. We can ship surfboards internationally, anywhere in the world. There will be a page on the WRSC website soon that explains it all. PURA VIDA.